shells and subshell chart

[Vicky Tong 3E]

If anyone remembers the shells and subshell chart that was shown in class, will it be required to memorize them? If so, I would love some tips on how to do so, especially the orbitals section of the chart.

[Adithi Ayyala 2G]

Hello! I believe that memorizing the orbitals, shells, and sublevels might be a bit tedious, but understanding their quantum numbers and the meanings behind these will really help it stick. So to begin, n= the shell number we are on. So s=1, p=2, d=3, f=4, and so on. Next, l can be any value to n-1. For s: 0, for p: -1,0,1, d: -2,-1,0,1,2, p: -3,-2,-1,0,1,2,3, and so on. Notice that s has one orbital, and thus one l value: 0. p has 3 orbitals, so its 3 l values are -1,0,1. Noticing these patterns will be more helpful than memorizing the chart, so I would say creating a little graph with these allowed values for each sublevel and subsequently understanding the quantum numbers will be very helpful. I hope this helped!

[Shreya Thyagarajan Dis1A]

I believe in class today he said that is was definitely not required to memorize anything. I think the explanation above was really good, but you can also figure out the electron configurations for a given element based on the periodic table. The first two columns are s orbitals, the middle block is the d orbitals, and the last set of columns at the end are the p orbitals. I hope that helps answer your question!

[Sunny Hou 2I]

Hi,
I don't think you would need to necessarily memorize it. I do it like the answer given above. You can just look at a periodic table to help you determine the electron configuration. The arrangement of the periodic table actually tells you where the last electron in each of the atoms fall on. Groups 1-2 are the s orbital, groups 3-12 are the d orbital, groups 13-18 are the p orbital, and the to periods hanging down the bottom of the periodic table are the f orbital. And counting from the start of each, you get the amount of electrons on that orbital. Knowing this you can look at determine the energy levels by looking at the period number. For example Na, it is in group 1 therefore, the last electron will be in the s orbital. It is in period 3 so then you know that the last electron is on the 3s orbital. And filling in all that is prior, you would get 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s1.

[Claire Kim 1F]

If anyone remembers the shells and subshell chart that was shown in class, will it be required to memorize them? If so, I would love some tips on how to do so, especially the orbitals section of the chart.

Personally, I do not memorize them. I simply look at the periodic table and utilize that to whatever I'm working on.

[Shriya_Amara_1G]

Shells (n) are equal to your group number, so 1,2,3,4...
Orbitals (l) are can be up to (n-1) and the orbitals we normally work with are 0, 1, 2, 3.
0 = s orbital
1 = p orbital
2 = d orbital
3 = f orbital
The magnetic quantum number's range is (l, l-1..., -l). For example, the p orbital's magnetic quantum numbers would be 1, 0, and -1.